REPORT TO THE ISD 709 DULUTH SCHOOL BOARD

Transcription

1 REPORT TO THE ISD 709 DULUTH SCHOOL BOARD REGARDING THE ENGINEERED WOOD FIBER INSTALLED PURSUANT TO THE PLAYGROUND RUBBER MULCH REPLACEMENT PROJECT INTRODUCTION This report is presented by Sylva Corporation, Inc. ( Sylva ), located at 900 Airport Road, Princeton, Minnesota. Sylva and its owners have been manufacturing and selling engineered wood fiber for use in playgrounds for over twenty-five years. One of the owners of Sylva was awarded a utility patent in 1994 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the design of a playground surfacing material made from wood that has unusually high shock absorbing characteristics. See EXHIBIT A, United States Patent No: 5,326,614. PRELIMINARY INFORMATION For purposes of this report, a portion of the document entitled CONTRACT DOCUMENTS AND TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS for Independent School District 709 PLAYGROUND RUBBER MULCH REPLACEMENT RE-BID (the Project ) is reprinted below: SECTION Engineered Wood Fiber Surfacing PART 3 - QUALITY CONTROL 3.01 Surfacing shall be IPEMA-CERTIFIED Tamarack Engineered Wood Fiber. Standard wood chips or bark mulch will not be acceptable Supplier must provide test results for Engineered Wood Fiber and new rubber safety mats for impact attenuation in accordance with ASTM F 1292 Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment. Results must be provided for new and for 12-year-old Engineered Wood Fiber material Testing of Engineered Wood Fiber in accordance with ASTM F 1292 must show G-max values of less than 120G for the 12 system at 12 drop heights, and HIC values of less than 1,000 for both new and 12-year-old material Supplier must provide test results for the Engineered Wood Fiber in accordance with ASTM F2075 Specification for Engineered Wood Fiber 1

2 For Use as a Playground Safety Surface Under and Around Playground Equipment Supplier must provide test results in accordance with ASTM F 1951, Standard Specification for Determination of Accessibility of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment Supplier must certify that the surface meets the intent of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). PART 4 - INSTALLATION 4.01 Install the Engineered Wood Fiber, and rubber wear mats in accordance with manufacturer s instructions. REPORT ENGINERED WOOD FIBER SPECIFICATION The Project specifies that the playground safety surfacing material must be Engineered Wood Fiber. See Section 02700, Parts 3.01, 3.02, 3.03, and 3.04 above. The wood fiber delivered and installed at the Project is not Engineered Wood Fiber ( EWF ). EWF is defined as a wood product that may look similar in appearance to landscaping mulch, but EWF products are designed specifically for use as a playground safety surface under and around playground equipment. See EXHIBIT B, Handbook for Public Playground Safety, Section , published by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (emphasis added). The wood fiber installed at the Project is a waste wood from the manufacturing operations of Lonza, Inc. ( Lonza ) located in Cohasset, Minnesota. The waste wood is a spent wood fiber that starts out as a Tamarack wood chip, is injected with steam and compressed at least twice to extract components from the wood fiber that have commercial value for Lonza. This waste wood is not designed specifically for use as a playground safety surface material. Lonza sells its waste wood to many parties that is ultimately used in multiple applications and for multiple purposes. Therefore, the Lonza waste wood, by definition, is not EWF. Sylva has been purchasing Lonza s waste wood for approximately fifteen years and using it primarily in its colored landscape mulch products. Sylva does not sell it as EWF. 2

3 IPEMA-CERTIFIED SPECIFICATION The Project specifies that the playground safety surfacing must be IPEMA- CERTIFIED. See Section 02700, Part 3.01 above. IPEMA requires that a company, as part of its application process, state that it manufactures or has the EWF manufactured for it. See EXHIBIT C, Page 3, paragraph 1, IPEMA 2017 Surfacing Certification Program License Agreement and Procedural Guide. Upon information and belief, the wood fiber installed at the Project was purchased by A Plus Landscaping, LLC from My Turn Play Systems. My Turn Play Systems sells a wood fiber it calls FLEX FIBER as a playground safety surfacing material. That wood fiber is the waste wood from Lonza. Here again, FLEX FIBER is not made by My Turn Play Systems, nor does Lonza make FLEX FIBER for My Turn Play Systems. My Turn Play Systems merely purchases waste wood from Lonza and delivers it as FLEX FIBER. FLEX FIBER is listed as a certified product on IPEMA s website. However, IPEMA has been notified that FLEX FIBER is not manufactured by My Turn Play Systems nor is it manufactured for My Turn Play Systems and that FLEX FIBER is merely a waste wood generated by Lonza. Additionally, Lonza has not had its waste wood IPEMA-CERTIFIED. IPEMA is currently investigating this issue. TAMARACK SPECIFICATION The Project specifies that the playground safety surface material must be Tamarack. See Section 02700, Part 3.01 above. Based upon information and belief, Tamarack was specified for the Project because Tamarack, in its natural form, is decay-resistant and therefore, arguably, could last longer than other species of wood fiber. As described above, the waste wood generated by Lonza starts out as Tamarack wood chips, is injected with steam and compressed at least twice to extract marketable components from the Tamarack. The components extracted include arabinogalactan and phenols. See EXHIBIT D, United States Patent No Phenols are the components in Tamarack that are believed to give Tamarack its decay-resistant properties. See EXHIBIT E, Heartwood extractives and lignin content of different larch species (Larix sp.) and relationships to brown-rot decay-resistance. Since some of the phenols are removed during the extraction process, the Tamarack based wood fiber that was installed at the Project may not have the decay-resistance that would occur if EFW was manufactured from unadulterated Tamarack. Therefore, the wood fiber that was installed at the Project is arguably not Tamarack as apparently intended by the Project specifications. 3

4 ASTM F 1292 Standard Specification for Impact Attenuation of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment for new and for 12-year-old Engineered Wood Fiber material The Project specifies that the supplier of the EWF must provide test results for 12-year-old Engineered Wood Fiber material. See Section 02700, Parts 3.02 and 3.03 above. Upon request for all testing documentation regarding the wood fiber installed at the Project, Douglas A. Hasler, CFO/ Executive Director of Business Services, ISD 709 Duluth Public Schools, provided the following: 1. Test results entitled Hazardous Metals Test; 2. Test results entitled IPEMA Impact Attenuation Report ASTM F ; 3. Test results entitled Sieve Analysis Data Collection Form ASTM F per Section 4.4 and Section 7; 4. Test results entitled Tramp Metals Test Results ASTM F2075; and 5. Test results entitled Report Number QI dated November 6, 2012, ASTM F b, Standard Specification for Determination of Accessibility of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment. See EXHIBIT F. Notably, test results for 12-year-old EWF were not included. INSTALLATION and ADA ACCESSIBILITY The Project specifies that the EWF must be installed per the manufacturer s instructions and it must be ADA accessible. See Section 02700, Parts 3.06, 3.07 and 4.01 above. FLEX FIBER s instructions for installation are located on the ASTM F b Standard Specification for Determination of Accessibility of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment test results report it submitted to A Plus Landscaping LLC. The installation instructions are as follows: Installation, Leveling & Compaction Install a 6 inch layer of engineered wood fiber and add 6 quarts of water to each cubic foot. Compact to an approximate depth of 4 inches using a vibrating plate compactor (changing direction by 90 degrees). Repeat this step 3 times until a total compacted depth of 12 is reached. See EXHIBIT F, Page 11. 4

5 These installation instructions must be followed for the FLEX FIBER wood fiber to be ADA accessible. Based on observations and inspections by representatives of Sylva and based on photographs of the installation process by people from the community, the wood fiber installed at the Project was not installed per FLEX FIBER s installation instructions. Therefore, the wood fiber, as installed, is not ADA accessible. Notably, Sylva sent the Lonza waste wood twice to an accredited third-party testing laboratory for testing to ASTM F b Standard Specification for Determination of Accessibility of Surface Systems Under and Around Playground Equipment. Both times it failed the test. OTHER OBSERVATION During Project site visits by representatives of Sylva, it was noted that at least four of the sites, while construction was still ongoing, the required prevailing wage postings were not present at the construction sites. CONCLUSION The FLEX FIBER wood fiber installed at the Project sites is not engineered wood fiber, its IPEMA certification is currently under investigation, is not manufactured from unadulterated Tamarack, has not been tested at 12 years of age as required by the Project specifications, and, as installed, is not ADA compliant. Respectfully submitted: Dated: October 16, 2017 /e/ Yvonne R. Doose Yvonne R. Doose Attorney at Law (#397066) 2855 Anthony Lane South, Suite 201 St. Anthony, MN Phone: (612) Fax: (612) ydoose@noseklawfirm.com 5